Sentinel
by Commander Zia
Summary: -noun: 1. One that watches or keeps guard. 2. The ghost of the great Namikaze Minato. After all, every son needs a father.
1. Prologue

_**A/N:**__ I've had this idea in my mind for a while, people seeing ghosts of the dead. And I've always loved the idea of Minato coming back to watch over Naruto. Figured I'd finally try it out._

_And yeah, yeah, plot hole partay. I'm using my own version of the Kyuubi attack night because I prefer this one/ already had planned it, and having Kushina around would just make things needlessly complicated. Sorry :)_

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**S e n t i n e l**

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**P** r o l o g u e

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Somehow, above all the inhuman screams and the snarling that shook the ground beneath their feet, it was Naruto's whimpering that drew his attention, even as he continued to run forward under the smoke-cloud sky.

"Shh." Minato leaned in and petted Naruto's forehead softly with a dirty fingertip, still colored by the dust and sticky bits of ink. Ink from, of course, the seal lacing its way across the baby's stomach. Not for the first time the doubt crept its way into the back of his mind, but Minato forced it down. The village. _His_ village. And what sort of Hokage would he be if he wasn't willing to give up anything- everything, for its sake?

He forced himself to ignore the terrible look on Kushina's face as she'd realized what was about to happen, to forget that split instant before her flawless porcelain kunoichi mask clicked back into place. She'd always wanted a family, it had been the one feminine pleasure she proudly possessed, besides the fiery hair she let run past her waist. She'd always wanted to be a good wife, had quit being a kunoichi and learned to cook and do the laundry, had learned what time to expect him home so he'd always find her at the door, ready to scold him for pushing himself too hard.

But she'd be able to try again. He'd stop the beast, so she'd still be alive, and so would Konoha, and she could settle down again, once everything was rebuilt and the ashes made way for the sun again. She could have her son, and she could fall in love again, and she could raise him in the family she'd always dreamed of having.

Minato, had he not become so used to keeping his opinions visibly secret over the years, would have grimaced.

Who was he kidding?

Green and red and flames blurred by him as he ran, so as he panned around him the only thing as solid as his arms was the bundle in them, giving him the most pathetic, pleading blue-eyed look he'd ever seen.

Minato was tempted to apologize, but shook his head.

For his village he'd give anything in the world. He was the Hokage. He loved his village.

This was the mantra he played over and over in his mind as he approached the sight of the Kyuubi. Fire danced across the murky skyline, nine tails whipping about like they had a mind of their own, sweeping down trees and the buildings set at the very edge of the village.

As he got closer to the source he began to hear a voice he knew well, too well, ringing through the air.

"Boar, Hare, Ant! Take your groups right, try and hold it back from the village a little longer. Leopard, start around to the other side, I'll follow you!"

"Kakashi."

Minato only spoke once the boy had stopped barking orders, and he started, shoulders tensing and his hands leaping to the defensive. Slowly Kakashi turned to him, and his face was bare, masks no doubt smashed and ripped in the hit he'd taken to the side of the face, his hair was still slick against that side of his face with the blood.

Only a month in ANBU and already he'd gathered a group of trusted teammates, he wasn't a captain yet, but only on technicality. Everyone knew he was more than skilled enough to be one, and they all would follow him to the death if he asked them to. ANBU was like that.

The look in Kakashi's eyes just then, as he turned, made Minato's heart sting a little. The relief flashed in them like a flare. Kakashi thought he could save them, that they still had a chance, now. That they could win.

But after losing so many, they could never win this battle.

"Sensei!" Kakashi said gratefully, staring into his eyes for a moment more than was safe, as if soaking up his presence. It marked just how tired and desperate the young teen was, that he hadn't called Minato 'Hokage-sama' as he'd taken to the past eight months.

"How are we holding up?" Minato asked quickly, wasting no time.

"Not good." Kakashi's eyes narrowed a fraction. "We've lost at least a sixth of our number, and who knows how many jounin and chuunin we've lost, they've been dropping like flies."

And then, finally, the silver-haired boy's eyes drifted down to Naruto, clutched tightly in Minato's grasp. It seemed to take his mind a tangible moment to process the information reaching his brain, to but two and two together, but as it did he visibly shuddered, and his eyes widened.

"No."

"Kakashi," Minato started, soothed, eyes already flicking nervously up to the great beast again. He didn't have much time.

"No, I won't let you." Kakashi repeated, voice shaking suddenly. "You can't."

"There's no other way." Minato insisted. Why was he even arguing this point? He had to leave, and he'd never receive Kakashi's blessing for this.

"Kushina will hate you."

"I know."

"Sensei, you know we can't-"

"Kakashi."

The name came out harsher than he'd expected, but he didn't hold back. Kakashi flinched again, as if struck, and guilt began to fill his eyes. He understood, he always had. He just didn't want to.

"I have the chance to save my village." Minato said. "What kind of Hokage would I be if I didn't take it?"

Kakashi's didn't answer, just turned away quickly.

"We can hold him off for as long as you need us to."

"Just thirty seconds will be fine." Minato said.

Kakashi nodded, although he didn't turn back before starting off at a run, bloody fingers already sparking blue lightning.

Minato turned back to the task at hand, ran a couple hundred meters closer before stopping. The roars beat at his ears so hard it was nearly deafening, and he could feel the dirt shaking violently beneath him, but he couldn't spare anything but total concentration.

Minato laid his child on the grass, knelt by him for a moment, and after a quick hand seal he touched the seal on his soft skin, not allowing his fingers to linger on the warmth. He stood up quickly, his hands flickering through seals faster than even his eyes could keep total track of.

He looked up for a moment. He caught the familiar silver thrown back, slam against the ground, rise again.

Just a few more seconds, just hold on.

Five.

Four.

Three.

He shouted, although the words he was unable to make out with his ears above the roar the Kyuubi suddenly let fly, as he felt the chakra suddenly tugging at it, felt its power beginning to flicker.

Two.

Its dark eyes turned to Minato, and in that moment, he knew what must have been the truest fear he'd ever felt, spilling in and under his skin like ice cold water.

One.

Naruto let out a final small, whimpering cry.

_Zero_.

_And suddenly everything was quiet._

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The light struck him, and as his eyes opened he was blinded for a moment.

His thoughts were sluggish in his lightheaded mind, but Minato managed to sit up, to grasp his knees and gasp for breath. His bones ached, his vision swam, nausea spilled bile up his throat just enough to touch his tongue. He had that terrible empty feeling one got, when chakra exhaustion reached its peak.

"Namikaze Minato."

The voice shredded at his ears, it was low-pitched and fingers on a chalkboard. Minato forced himself to look up. The thing's face was dull grey, fangs settled over his lips, at least an inch in length. Horns pierced the cascade of messy, off-white hair. He must have stood at least seven feet, maybe more.

"You're the… the shinigami." Minato forced out, speech was unbelievably hard, it seemed as if the air around him had a mind of its own, planning to suffocate him, crush him beneath its weight.

It smiled, showing yellowing teeth. "And you must be the Yondaime Hokage. It's an honor." The shinigami grabbed Minato's shoulder, hauled him to his feet, and he stood unevenly. Darkness surrounded them but for the light coming from behind the creature, so it was hard to look at it without squinting. "Now come."

"Wait!" Minato said quickly, although he wasn't sure why. But the itch at the back of his mind wouldn't let him alone, as hard as he tried to tell himself it didn't much matter anymore.

The shinigami turned back to him, blinked its inky black eyes at him blankly. "I have given my share. I am only making sure you complete your side of our trade."

"But I-" He could still see the blue eyes staring at him, clear and helpless.

"Whatever you have left behind no longer matters." The shinigami said, although in its voice was something like interest. "You realize that after giving me your very soul, there is not much left to give. What could possibly be worth it?"

"My son." Minato blurted.

The shinigami raised his eyebrows. "You have a loving wife, a devoted student. You have an entire village looking up to you. Yet you choose to give everything away for a newborn?"

Minato straightened his shoulders. He'd taken something from Naruto, taken his freedom. He wanted to pay everything back to his _son_, not to some death god. Finally, he spoke. "What do you want?"

He smiled again. "Interesting. You're a very interesting man, you know that Yondaime Hokage?"

Minato didn't answer.

"Alright, I'll offer you a deal." The shinigami said. "You are dead. This is a fact. But there are ways you can go back despite this, watch over your son, keep him on the straight and narrow, all of that. All you need to give me in return is a favor."

"A favor?"

"Something of equal value, of course." He assured. "It is no small feat, bringing a soul back to the earth once he has passed. But if there is nothing you wouldn't give, then I will let you watch over him as he grows."

"What do you want?" Minato repeated.

"It is as I said. Only a single favor. I have nothing I desire at this point in time, but I shall come and redeem it in due time."

Somehow, even as every alarm bell went off in the back of his mind, all Minato could taste was sweet victory on his tongue. He'd get to see his wife again, his friends. And most importantly, somehow, he'd get to see his son.

His Naruto.

"Do you accept the offer?"

This time he didn't hesitate to answer.

"I do."

And with the sudden ease of a blink, the light and the shinigami were gone, and Minato ceased to think.


	2. The Dead Ghost

_**A/N:**__ Chapter two for ya! Thanks to my five __**wonderful**__ reviewers, I love you with all my heart. And to Nika, hey Poland, thanks for the sweet review ;) I aim to please. Tried to convey Minato's confusion without having him say too much. Hope it went okay :D Note to self: name next chapter There-ness._

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**T** h e **D** e a d **G** h o s t

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"Get back here, ya damn brat!"

Naruto turned back a final time only to stick out his tongue before bolting.

Left, right, down that one dead end with the hole in the brick wall big enough to squeeze through. As he finally came to a stop a minute later it was no surprise to him the hollering merchants were gone. He knew the alleyways of East Konoha even better than the man who'd built them.

Finally looking down to his closed fingers he opened them, and couldn't help a small smile. A little battered or not, the apple was the brightest of red, dulled only by the occasional yellow spot or bruise. He loved the days the merchants would come down to the village center and sell their wares, it happened at least once or twice a week. With all the confusion, it was easier to swipe something without being noticed, and easier to get away.

It had been nearly a month now since Naruto had run away from the orphanage, and it was days like these, as Naruto bit into the apple so sweet it stung his tongue, as the sun filtered between the roofs to hit him with that cozy natural warmth, that he knew without a doubt it was better this way. He always knew it was better this way of course, the institution had been a terrible, hateful place, but some days it was easier to believe this than others. Like that one time a bunch of drunk guys, shinobi by the metal across their foreheads, had stumbled on his sleeping-place at the time. That had been a week ago, and the bruises still showed eggplant purple on his arm, and that one cut beneath his eye was looking like it might scar. Needless to say, he'd started avoiding that side of the village.

Naruto forced himself to eat the fruit slowly even as his stomach twisted inside him, and ten minutes later he finished the final bite, threw the core somewhere into the shadows down the street, and licked the sticky from his fingers.

Standing, the seven-year-old was about to start towards his abandoned-house-of-choice when he felt something. It wasn't like wind, or like the actual touch of skin on his own, but like a ghost, like something tingling just beneath the surface in warning. Naruto whipped around, hands raising defensively in front of him.

Before him was… only the empty street. Same dumpster, same stained newspaper sticking to the concrete like paper-mache.

"Who's there?" Naruto asked quickly. One wouldn't think such a thing would work but it usually did, he could ask and he'd get at least some sort of warning, a laugh or angry accusation, before the beating came. It felt a little odd, that he should know this. But thirty or so days and at least five times he'd been caught off guard. And really, what much more could he do even if he _was_ on guard?

No answer came.

The feeling came closer suddenly, and Naruto backed away a step. He tried again, "Who's there?"

"Naruto?"

The voice was a man's voice, deep and upright and unforgiving. It sounded as though it might be apologetic, soft somehow, but that only made Naruto back away further. Someone from the orphanage? It would be the first time, they'd always seemed grateful to be rid of him, but who else would know his name? All the men who stumbled upon him never called him by name. 'Demon!' They'd spit, scream, cry, it depended what kind of drunk they were. But of course, they were always scariest when they _weren't_ drunk, when they came at him with that calm-faced rage as if they'd thought it all out, as if beating the breath out of a random street kid made perfect sense to them.

Naruto was tempted just to run, but his eyes burned and his legs ached at the thought. He hadn't slept in at least a day or so, he may be able to outrun overweight farmers but never a trained shinobi.

"Naruto?" The man repeated, and starting with his sandaled foot he appeared from the shadows.

He stood a good five-something feet, his back straight in that powerful way, and Naruto had to look up to see him, even as he stood a couple steps back. He wore what all shinobi wore, the blue uniform and the green vest and the silver plate under his yellow hair, and over it an eccentric, cape-like jacket, falling well past his knees.

"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked, finally finding his voice.

The man paused for a moment, as if debating something in his head, before finally opening his mouth. "Why are you here?"

Naruto looked back down the street again, away from the man. No one wanted to talk to him, they either wanted him to pay up, or just plain pay. Back in the orphanage all the kids had ignored him, even as they spent every day and night together. Why would a stranger want to _talk_ to him?

"Why shouldn't I be?"

The man waited, and Naruto thought he might he preparing to leave, but then he spoke again. "Where's your mother?"

It was then that Naruto laughed, even though it only felt a little bit funny. "Mother? I don't have one."

"You don't have one?"

"Are you deaf?"

The blonde shinobi gave Naruto a clear, laser-beam blue-eyed stare, and he squirmed.

"Who do you live with?"

"Nobody." Naruto answered before he could stop himself. But as the word spilled off his tongue his eyes widened in horror. If the man knew he was a runaway he'd take him back to the orphanage. That was bad. They never did anything there, it was boring, lonely, _scary_.

The shinobi seemed to notice his urge to escape, and put up his hands delicately in surrender. "I don't want hurt you." His voice was tinted with something, something like shattered glass, and it was probably that that kept Naruto from leaving then and there. "Do you… do you have any idea who I am?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes and stared. Should he? Was he important? Then he remembered, and nearly choked. "You're the guy on the mountain! The Hogako!"

"Hokage." He corrected, crouching down and holding out his hand. Slowly, his heart beating in his chest so loudly he was sure the shinobi could hear it, he reached out to take it.

But he couldn't.

"What?" Naruto paled as his fingers seemed to stick right into the man's skin. If he tried really hard he could see the outlines of his thumb and forefinger through the flesh. But not flesh. Flesh you could touch. He would have moved, run whether or not the man would catch him, but fear paralyzed his legs and stuck his feet to the ground. "What are you?"

"I'm dead, Naruto." The Hokage said after a long, frustrated pause. "I haven't been the Hokage for… years."

"You're a ghost?" Naruto asked.

He made a face, a sort of small grimace, before his mouth went back to its neutral almost-smile. "I suppose I am."

"What do you want with me?" Dread was creeping its way into Naruto's stomach, up his throat with a bitter taste. _Dead_ Hokage? What was going on? Was he dreaming?

In the instant after the words came out, the man's face fell again, and this time it took him longer to piece a serene face back together. "I want to help you."

"Why?" This Naruto had heard before, 'I'm here to help you!', 'Just follow me-', SLAM. But then, what harm could this ghost do to him anyways if he couldn't even touch him?

"Can't someone just want to help?" He asked, implored.

"No." Naruto answered, he couldn't stop himself and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Because no one 'just wanted to help'. No one had ever… it had to be a trick. A scam. A master plan.

"Naruto," It must have only been the third or fourth but it felt like the thousandth time the man had said his name, and it made him uncomfortable. With that word his voice turned warm and thick and maybe a bit bitter, like old memories he wasn't sure he wanted to forget. "Naruto, I know what they did to you was wrong, but you have to trust me."

"_Just trust me."_

_The dark man smiled a bright-toothed, quirky smile, and Naruto didn't doubt for an instant this stranger would never hurt him-_

"No." Naruto repeated, finally forcing himself to back away. The man seemed dumbfounded for a moment, his hand still frozen in the air where Naruto had left it, but then, as Naruto tried to move back further, he grabbed.

"Wait-"

"Get off me-"

Naruto pulled violently back, but couldn't move as the fingers caught his grimy shirt shoulder.

Sweat suddenly beat on the man's face, Naruto wondered why he hadn't noticed it before.

"You can… touch me?" Naruto brought up a finger and tapped at the hand. It's skin was a little liquidy, like molten chocolate, but it was most definitely solid definitely there.

"I don't know what I-" His face steadily drained of color, and the sound of his breathing began to grow louder and more labored.

"Mr- uh, Hokage? Are you alright?" Naruto was about to grasp the man's shaking hand to help steady him when it slipped through his shoulder, and the man fell to his knees. Naruto reach out instinctively to help catch his arms but they slipped right through his skin as they had the first time they'd tried to touch.

He noticed with a slightly cold feeling, although he wasn't sure why, that the feeling of there-ness that had been plaguing him since right before the man's arrival was almost gone now.

"Naruto-" He gasped, giving him a final pained look, before his eyes rolled back and he fell face-first in the dirt.

"Hokage!"

Naruto dropped to his knees beside the man, tried again a couple times to touch his opaque, somehow non-existent form.

"Hokage?"

It was an odd feeling, as he sat there and stared down at the messy blonde hair, the tresses he couldn't lift to check if the man was okay. But his chest rose slowly, up and down, and he was still alive… dead… it hurt his head to think about.

Naruto sat against the wall, unable to convince himself to break his vigil, even as the evidence piled against him, and the chill of evening began to bite at his bare skin.

"You better be thankful." He whispered weakly, before closing his eyes, and letting himself fall asleep.


End file.
